Category: Pie

Ladieeees and gentlemen…it’s that time o’ year again. The time where we put our pies in the sky…or at least the cloud….and celebrate Pieathalon IV. I am celebrating this year with a recipe from Mandee over at https://vintagerecipecards.com/ called Fluffy Lime Pie. This year, there are 12 bakers in the field, or as our beloved organiser Yinzerella called us, The Dirty Dozen! All pie assignments are at the bottom of this post so please visit all the other bloggers and bakers!. John from The Food and Wine Hedonist got my assignment so please pay him a visit, if only to commiserate. There were two versions, I can’t wait to see which one he chose!

Five Things You Need To Know About Fluffy Lime Pie

First up. For a vintage recipe Fluffy Lime Pie is weirdly modernly deconstructed in that it is not so much a pie as…..well, it’s a whole heap of filling with a sprinkle of crumbs on top. Which is fine by me. I’m all about the filling. In fact this could be my perfect pie!

Fluffy Lime pie is perfectly, ridiculously, gloriously vintage in name alone, if nothing else. No one today is making a Fluffy anything. Personally, I blame that bastian of 1980’s cocktails the Fluffy Duck which pretty much ruined the reputation of Fluffy food for good. Today my friends we are bucking that trend and putting Fluffy food back where it belongs! Viva le revolution.

For those of you, like myself who are carrying a few extra winter kilos? This one is definitely for you. For the Fluffy Lime Pie weighs (pun totally intended) in at less than 100 calories per serve!

We don’t have Graham crackers in Australia so I used a mix of crushed up Marie biscuits, ground ginger and a little bit of cinnamon for my “crust”.

Here is a Fluffy Lime Pie from 1975!

And here is mine:

Hellloo twins!

I am utterly dumbfounded that this recipe worked. I honestly did not think I would have a pie to show. Why? Well the base of Fluffy Lime Pie is whipped skim evaporated milk. Which, in my head should not whip. Because isn’t’ it the fat in cream that makes it whip? And doesn’t low-fat evap by it’s very definition not have fat to whip?

By the way, the word whip appears in this post more times than it does in Fifty Shades. Trigger warning disclaimer over. Let’s get whipping!

So anyway, I put a flower pot on my head, Devo Style and whipped up my evap and lo and behold, it whipped up good!Next up, some low-fat lime jello needed to be whipped up with some hot water and ice cubes.

For your own safety do not add ice cubes into the bowl of your stand mixer. The first ice-cube will hit the blade, fly out of the bowl and smack you right in the eye. Which should be enough for most people. However, if you

a) are undaunted by a pending black eye

b) like to live on the edge

c) have never heard of the phrase “once bitten, twice shy”

By all means add a second ice-cube into the mix. It too will fly out of the bowl, this time missing your face but startling one of the dogs.

It’s about this time you should realise that whipping those ice cubes should probably be done by hand! Taking out your trusty whisk, you can pause to wonder briefly how long it’s going to take for these ice cubes to melt? Is this a ploy to make you exercise and hence enhance the low calorific benefits of the Fluffy Lime Pie?

It actually didn’t take very long at all. Then, yep, you guessed it. More whipping….

Then you add the milk back in and….

A few minutes later you have this:A few more additions, sugar, lemon juice and zest and you are done!

You can now swap the whipping for a bit of grinding…

And after you are done with that you can crush up some biscuits and sprinkle them over the top!

This is so pretty!!! The pale green colour is gorgeous! And the fluffy texture with the crumb is delicious!

The downside is that metallic taste that comes from the artificial sweetener in the low cal jello. Personally, if I were to make this again…I would use regular jelly and not add the sugar at the end. Here’s the recipe in case you want to have a try!

Thank you Mandee for the recipe, this was a blast, so much fun! Thank you as always Yinzerella for the invite and thanks to all the other bloggers who make this such a great annual event! Same time next year?

PS – The tablecloth above may also contain a little hint as to where I’ll be this time next week! I’ll be away for around a month and will not be blogging but please follow me on Insta to see trip pics!

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So, today we’ve reached R in The A-Z of Cooking (1977) and…what? Yeah, I know the heading for the post is Blackberry and Apple Pie. But we’re at R already; you should know by now that The A-Z is never going to give you Roasts or Rice or Root Vegetables. Anyone want to guess the “R” in blackberries or apples or pie? No? Good thing because you may as well be shouting “Rumpelstiltskin”. The R in question is “Reheatable”. What makes this even weirder than the normal bonkers of The A-Z is that you’ll quite likely never need to reheat this Blackberry and Apple Pie because it is so good that you’ll eat it in one go!

If you follow me on Instagram, this picture may be somewhat familiar as I posted it the day I made it which was waaaaayyy back in February. As they say, good things some to those who wait! The February baking also explains the heart-shaped decorations because nothing says “I love you” like pie right?

The pastry for the Blackberry and Apple Pie came together really well which was awesome because pastry and bread, even after just doing two months of bread with Tasty Reads, are still things that frighten me! I used frozen blackberries so my mixture was quite wet so when before I placed the filling into the pastry I sprinkled some almond meal into the mix. This helps to soak up any juices that would have resulted in that anathema to the British Bake Off – the soggy bottom. Having recently spilled my water bottle all over my lap en route to the gym and having to do an entire class feeling like I had wet my pants, I am also totally against the soggy bottom!

Okay, I know I need to work on my edges but come on, you gotta give me points for the hearts right?

Long story short. This was one of the best recipes so far from The A-Z of Cooking. Shame it was hidden away in “R for Reheatable”. If I was going to randomly allocate it a category, it would certainly fall under “T for Totally Awesome”. Here’s the recipe, including my l’il almond meal trick.

Mix them with the blackberries, the lemon juice, the almond meal, and sugar to taste.

Spoon the filling into the lined pie dish.

Heat your oven to 425F or 220C.

Roll out the rest of the dough and use it to top the pie. Seal the edges, trim neatly and decorate as you wish. Make sure you include a hole in the centre, either as part of the decoration as I did or, just with a skewer. This will allow the steam to escape.

Sprinkle with sugar.

Place in oven and bake until the pastry is golden-brown, about 30-40 minutes.

Serve with vanilla ice cream if desired!

By Taryn Fryer

Adapted from The A-Z of Cooking 1977

Adapted from The A-Z of Cooking 1977

Retro Food For Modern Times http://www.retrofoodformoderntimes.com/

Back to work tomorrow after an Easter break filled with doing a whole heap of nothing! I feel like I’m getting back into the swim of blogging regularly. Let’s hope my holiday filled May doesn’t derail my best intentions!

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Happy New Year everyone! 2016 was a tough year and I am glad to see the back of it! And what better way to celebrate the turn of the year than with a classic chicken pie! Well, champagne and lobster would have also been grand but chicken pie it was! And Lord Almighty, you have no idea the effort involved in bringing you this chicken pie – direct from the pages of The A-Z of Cooking! This is the third recipe I made from the chapter called Old Favorites.

The first thing I made were some pastries called Maids of Honour, originally made in Tudor Times. I nearly lost my head when I saw the photos of them. They were terrible!!! Totally unusable. So then I made an Apple Pan Dowdy. Terrible name for what was a quite tasty upside down apple cake. I did not take any photos the night I made it and only remembered a couple of days later that I needed to. By which time, the cake was gone!

Left in the chapter was a recipe for Steak and Kidney Pie – I know people eat it and I’m sure it’s delicious. But as far as I’m concerned kidneys are there to absorb waste and make urine – neither of which make me want to pop some in my mouth and chew. There was also a recipe for a Killarney Hot Pot which contained pork belly which is another thing I don’t eat. Finally, there was a recipe for Chicken Pie which I initially ignored because….boring! Then I realised I had everything I needed to make it in the house and voila, chickken pie it was!

This Chicken Pie is actually not boring. It was delicious!!! Making it during a heat wave was probably not my brightest move ever but it was worth it! Seriously, the night I made those pies, I went to bed around 1:00am and it was still 32°C. That’s 89.6°F for my American friends. And is damn hot for the early hours of the morning where ever you are! So you can only imagine how much hotter it was earlier in the day when I was baking the pies!

This was perfectly balanced, chicken and mushroom is always a great combination and this had the perfect amount of wine and cream. I added some fresh chives into my chicken mix and made small pies instead of one large one but otherwise this was exactly as per The A-Z. Well, I used bought pastry instead of making my own – heat wave remember?

This would be a great way to use leftover chicken…just sub it in at the point of mixing. And if you are not fond of mushrooms (I’m looking at you Jenny Hammerton) use whatever vegetables you like – corn, asparagus and or leek would all be super delicious or you could go very traditional and have peas, carrots, celery.

The only downside of this pie, apart from the heat wave, was that for the whole time I made it I was singing that terrible hair band song from the ’90’s “She’s my cherry pie” in my head, except I was subbing in chicken for cherry. Be warned. It could also happen to you! Meaning, now that I have planted that seed it surely will!

All together now

“It’s my chicken pie,

Cool drink of water, such a sweet surprise,

Tastes so good makes a grown man cry,

My chicken pie”

Now that I’ve ruined this, and all future chicken pies for you all, here’s the recipe:

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It will come as no surprise to you, wise people of the internet that this, in all it’s earthy glory, is a potato:

And this, is a can of beans.

They don’t call me Captain Obvious for nothing!

What is probably not so obvious is that you can turn these into this:

That’s right, lemon meringue pie made from spuds and beans.

How?

Well, it’s Pieathalon – the foodie equivalent of Mouseketeer Surprise Day; anything can happen and it usually does!

Starting with a brand new logo (thanks Greg, it looks super!)

Pieathalon is that time of year when bloggers from all over the world swap recipes and rejoice in the kooky baked goods of yesterday. The full list of participants and what they made is at the bottom of the post. Why not go visit them all? Maybe start with Battenberg Belle who is making my pie of choice, Fatty Arbuckle’s Delight, then pop over to Ruth at Mid Century Menu who sent me lemon potato pie!

Lemon Potato Pie – The Pie

The recipe for Lemon Potato Pie comes from 250 Superb Pies and Pastries, a book from 1941. The use of the humble spud instead of the more luxurious ingredient of butter to create lemon curd had a feel of wartime austerity about it. Butter was rationed right? Otherwise….why? No, seriously, WHY?

Let’s not delve too deeply into the minds of 1941 and get stuck right in to the pie. Starting with some grated potato.This was then parboiled for a spell and quickly became a kind of gloopy liquid.

After the rest of the ingredients were added and it cooked some more, the potato broke down even further. However, at the end of the cooking there were still some small flakes of potato which were odd and a bit off putting when you tasted the….sludge. So, even though this was not in the recipe I blended the lemon mixture to make it smooth. Bear, in mind I have the fussiest eater in the world as my chief taste tester!

Lemon Potato Pie – The Meringue

So, then to the meringue. And here disaster struck. I had put the separated whites into a bowl and left them on the far side of the kitchen bench while I made the filling. When it came time to make the meringue I looked around to where I had left the egg whites and they had vanished.

“Did you take my egg whites?” I asked The Fussiest Eater in The World.

“I gave them to the dogs. I thought that’s what you left them for”.

We had no more eggs. And we had been to a rather boozy lunch that day so there was no option of getting into the car to go buy more eggs.

“Crap…guess, I’ll have to finish it tomorrow”.

A bit later, I was making our dinner which was the Argentine Beef Stew from The A-Z of Cooking (1971). I will definitely blog about that one soon, it was DELICIOUS and I remembered something about making meringues from bean water. A quick visit to Google confirmed that you could make meringue from the water that surrounds tinned chickpeas or white beans. Why not give it a whirl? It’s in the same spirit of “make do and mend” as the potato based filling.

I drained the can of beans, the beans went into the stew and the bean water went into the mixer.

I was incredibly surprised to see that it meringued up a treat!

Ooops! I’d over filled my pie!

In homage to Ruth, I thought I would let the Fussiest Eater in The World have the final say on the Lemon Potato Pie.

Lemon Potato Pie: The Verdict

Mixed.

So, what do you think?

“The filling is gorgeous. It’s really delicious”.

And the meringue?

“Tastes like the worst marshmallow in the world”.

Well done cooks of 1941! And thanks Ruth for a super recipe! Your lemon potato pie is delicious!

Sadly, vegans and egg intolerants, the aqua fava meringue was not. It was much more marshmallow-y than meringue-y. It was very gooey and a bit stringy – think mozzarella cheese on a pizza.

Here is the recipe for the pie:

Given the bean meringue was a failure, here is the proper recipe for the meringue from Ruth.

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Is late March too early to call Dish Of The Year for 2016? Because I think I have a winner.

At the very least, my version of Four and Twenty Blackbirds’ Salted Caramel Apple Pie will be Top Ten. I would love to think that over the course of the next nine months I could cook ten things that are better than this. I just very much doubt it will happen. It’s THAT good!

Salted Caramel Apple Pie. Even the words sound good together. You know how when you first fall in love and you want to say the name of your beloved all the time? That’s what I’ve been like all week, just walking around with my head full of “Mmmm…caramel…salted caramel…with apples…in a pie….salted caramel apple pie….oooohhhh yyyyyeah”. And sometimes not only in my head. There’s been a few awkward moments when I’ve said some version of the above only to be met with a blank look and someone saying “Ok, sure…but what’s the time?” That’s how good this is. It will send you into inner rhapsodies. Which sometimes become outer rhapsodies.

It’s starting to get a bit colder here now, much more autumnal – and nothing quite says Autumn like an apple pie! I pretty much used the Four and Twenty Blackbirds Recipe that you can find here for this.

However, I twisted it up a bit as follows:

I used Rhubarb Bitters instead of Agnostura Bitters in the filling – because I already had some and rhubarb and apple is a classic combo right?

The original recipe calls for four to six lemons. I think this is waaaaaaayyyyy too many. I used three and I feel my apple mixture was too wet. I had to drain a lot of liquid off before I put the apples in the pie. I would use two as a maximum and ideally, the minimum amount I needed to stop the apples from browning.

I also used less nutmeg because I’m not overly fond of it and for my palate, a little of it goes a long way.

I used bought pastry – a sweet shortcrust pie shell for the base and puff pastry for the topping

I used less salt than the recipe specified because the fussiest eater in the world is not a fan of salt and sweet.

I also swapped out the flour in the recipe for almond meal and used demerara sugar in the filling and sprinkled over the top of the pastry.

To me, the salted caramel sauce is the star of this dish. Without it, you have…apple pie. Tasty but ho-hum. With it – with the caramel sauce taken to the edge – so you get a hint of bitterness, then a flood of sweet then a kick of salt in the finish – you have a taste sensation!

Having said that, the spiced apples had a lovely flavour!

This was the first time I had ever latticed a pie and it shows. My lattice was quite uneven. Or, as we shall be calling it henceforth – rustic!

This was soooo good! We ate it plain and also with cream and some of the leftover caramel sauce. It would be DIVINE with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The leftover sauce can be used over ice cream or other desserts and will keep in the fridge for a week or so. I am combining it with chocolate mousse and raspberries for a recipe from our latest Tasty Reads book which I hope will be as amazing as this.

Continue cooking until the mixture turns a deep golden brown, almost copper colour.

(Keep an eye on it, it can turn from under done to burnt very quickly.)

Once it is the coppery colour, remove from the heat and add the heavy cream. Be careful as the mixture will bubble and steam.

Whisk the mixture over a low heat and add the salt.

Set aside.

Apple Filling

Juice the lemons into a large bowl. Add the bitters. Core, peel and thinly slice the apples - a mandoline is perfect for this. Place the apples in the mixing bowl, ensuring each slice is dipped in the lemon juice to prevent browning.

In a large measuring cup combine the sugar, almond meal, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg. Pour over the apples in the mixing bowl. Use your hands to gently mix and coat the apple slices in this mixture.

To Assemble the Pie

Preheat your oven to 190-200C (375-400F).

Place 1/3 of the apples into the sweet shortcrust pie shell, ensuring that the base is well covered and there are minimal gaps.

Pour 1/4 of the caramel over the apples.

Repeat with the caramel and apples twice.

Assemble the lattice crust from puff pastry.

Brush the crust with beaten egg.

Sprinkle with demerara sugar.

Place the pie on a baking paper lined baking sheet (to protect your oven if the caramel bubbles over).

Reduce the oven temperature to 165C / 335F and bake 25-35 minutes or until the apples are just done when tested with a skewer.